Hamas decries death of Palestinian in zionist detention

The Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas has denounced Israeli shooting of a Palestinian who died later in detention.

Raed al-Salihi died Sunday of his wounds sustained during a raid by Israeli military forces near a refugee camp in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem on August 9.

The wounded man was detained by Israeli forces and later taken to Israel’s Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem al-Quds for treatment, where he died.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement on Monday that the death of Salihi is a new multi-dimensional crime.

The incident, he said, is a further evidence of the Israeli regime’s “insistence on violating all humanitarian norms,” which requires “holding it accountable.”

Qassem stressed that Israeli crimes against the Palestinian detainees “would not break their will, neither weaken their resolve and steadfastness.” For the movement, he said, the freedom of the detainees is a top priority.

More than 7,000 Palestinians are reportedly held in Israeli jails. Hundreds have apparently been incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention, under which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli jails without trial or charge.

Some Palestinian prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years.

About 1,200 detainees in Israeli jails suffer from poor health conditions as a result of medical negligence.

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed heightened tensions ever since Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.